American Fitness Professionals & Associates

By Carol Simontacch, CCN, MSInflammation is a problem of the aging, isn’t it? I remember how my grandparents’ fingers gnarled painfully as they aged. My grandmother struggled to get out of a chair each evening. She popped aspirin like candy. Aspirin was the only pain reliever available at that time. We often think that arthritis and other “diseases of pain” are a natural and expected consequence of the aging population.  But research and clinical data reveal that inflammation is a problem of the elderly – and the very young.  Pain in the joints and soft tissues can afflict sedentary and unhealthy people – and young men and women who are passionate about health.

We find that inflammation is at the heart of virtually every disease condition we talk about, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, diseases of the brain, osteoporosis and of course, the arthritis conditions. Because these illnesses are so pervasive – and can begin so early in life, we need to address this issue early. Our children are being set up for major illnesses as they grow older because of chronic inflammation starting in childhood.

What does the research say? Fat tissue releases pro-inflammatory immune bodies, which potentially induce low-grade systemic inflammation in persons with excess body fat. In a study of over 3500 children, eight to sixteen years of age, researchers found both elevated C-reactive protein concentrations and white blood cell counts in over seven percent of the boys and over six percent in the girls.(Visser)

Obesity, low physical fitness, and inactivity are associated with cardiovascular risk factors and coronary artery disease (CAD). Researchers are finding this relationship in children as well as adults. They are also discovering chronic inflammation as a relationship between obesity and CAD. In a small study of 197 children, ranging from ten- to fifteen-year-olds, the obese children had significantly higher concentrations of inflammatory parameters and the obese, unfit children had the highest systemic inflammation. (Halle)

How could the tissues of young children and teenagers become inflamed? Consider the child who awakens in the morning to a bowl of cereal that contains more sugar, ounce-per-ounce, than soft drinks. She moistens the cereal with milk and sprinkles another spoonful of sugar over the top. She enjoys a piece of toast, spread thickly with jam that contains far more sugar than fruit, and washes it down with a glass of Tang (that contains no orange juice at all).

For lunch, she enjoys a packaged entrée (mostly chemicals, sodium and sugar) and a soft drink. Mom packed a bundle of cookies (for love) which she enjoyed for her mid-afternoon snack.

Dinner is hamburgers or pot roast, a small salad with ranch dressing and dessert. Her diet is almost completely inflammatory. This child, and all the children like her, are being set up for the conditions listed above, all of which have their roots in inflammation.

Does this picture change as the child matures?  Hardly. Consider the teenager who skips breakfast after getting too little sleep. He is hungry by mid-morning so he stuffs coins into the vending machine at school for a soft drink and a candy bar. For lunch, he buys a slice or two at the local pizzeria that is conveniently located by the school and washes it down with another soft drink. After school, he snacks on chips and burgers, and wolfs down several pieces of deep fried chicken and a pile of French fries for dinner. Dessert is a pint of ice cream. All pro-inflammatory, including the sleep deprivation. 

Helping Dad Be Dad

As a nutritionist, I often work with parents who are trying to optimize their childrens’ health. We review their food diaries that often looks like what is described above. I make suggestions: remove all processed foods and replace them with fresh fruits and vegetables, take the soft drinks and artificial drinks out of the house, replace them with water, and include a variety of proteins and fat—including fish oils, olive oil, organic chicken, wild-raised seafood and other high quality proteins.

They stare at me in disbelief. “But he won’t eat that,” they protest. It is a good thing I do not charge for my counseling services because they would be muttering, “And I paid for this…” 

The good new in all of this is that we can restore health to our children. The first step in building lifelong heath in children is to feed them properly. Fortunately, that is not as hard as it sounds – if you can teach them to ignore the commercials and peer pressure that drive many of their eating behaviors. And just to make it easier, a sample menu, is designed for children and teenagers, follows.

Breakfast

Breakfast burritos, with scrambled eggs, mashed avocado, diced tomatoes, refried beans, and a handful of lettuce. Top with salsa and serve on a corn tortilla. (Delicious!)

Lunch

Small dinner salad with several kinds of vegetables, with his favorite dressing. Small chunks of oven-roasted chicken for protein, and a piece of fresh fruit for dessert.

After-school snack

Rice cake with almond butter and fruit-only jam. Fresh fruit or a vegetable platter with their favorite dressing. Popcorn with butter and a sprinkling of salt.

Dinner

Wild-raised fish prepared as oven-baked fish sticks with tartar sauce. Side salad of fresh cole slaw, a baked sweet potato and stir-fried green beans topped with soy sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Want dessert? Offer fresh fruit.

This menu is good for children, teenagers, and adults. Best of all, it helps your children maintain healthy weight, a healthy cardiovascular system and is anti-inflammatory.

What About Supplements for Children and Teens?

Children and teenagers can generally take the same supplements as adults, but in smaller amounts if their body weight is under one-half the adult weight. If your children are starting to complain of achy joints and muscles, add a fish oil supplement to their diets. 

Because most North American children are deficient in minerals, I strongly urge parents to include a good quality mineral supplement, but if inflammation is an issue, a supplement like SierraSil™ is very appropriate for children. SierraSil is a blend of over three dozen naturally occurring minerals, mined from a unique clay deposit in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

Two human trials have shown that the compound is uniquely anti-inflammatory. For children are under the age of ten, with a body weight less than 100 pounds, I recommend lowering the dosage to 1-2 capsules per day, taken on an empty stomach. If they cannot swallow a capsule, the contents can be emptied into a smoothie each morning. Make it icy cold, thick with frozen fruit and ice chips, to reduce any grittiness. The minerals in the SierraSil will dampen down residual inflammation. 

The time to lower inflammation in children and teenagers is while they are still young.  Don’t wait for arthritis to settle into the tissues.

For more information: Carol Simontacchi, at CSimontacchi@cs.com or 239-472-4499.

Bibliography

Halle M, Korsten-Reck U, Wolfarth B et al. “Low-grade systemic inflammation in overweight children: impact of physical fitness.” Exerc Immunol Rev. 2004;10:66-74
Visser M, Bouler LM, McQuillan GM, et al. “Low Grade Systemic Inflammation in Over-Weight Children.” Pediatrics,201;107(1):E13.